How long did Nortre Dame give Willingham and what was the reason for letting him go?

[gladIam4UA]

How long did Nortre Dame give Willingham and what was the reason for letting him go? He didn't have a losing record did he? Just thought about this in the context of Alabama football and the expectations of fans and the administration to succeed. Obviously our situation is different - given sanctions, etc.

Proof that Alabama IS the SEC: http://atlantaclimber.com/alabama/

 

[TiderB]

Re: How long did Nortre Dame give Willingham and what was the reason for letting him go?

Under Ty, the Irish were 10-3, 5-7, and 6-6.

 

[THE BAMA IRISHMAN]

Re: How long did Nortre Dame give Willingham and what was the reason for letting him go?

Under Ty, the Irish were 10-3, 5-7, and 6-6.

It did not help that Navy had the Irish on the ropes two straight years. I can see a close game every now and then but not in back to back years to teams like Navy. Coach Willingham was taking the program to a lower depth. Bob Davie had good players but wasn't a very good Coach. Ty was able to go 10 - 3 with that talent. As those players graduated so did the talent level. Coach Willingham can coach but he isn't the best at recruiting. Charlie Wiess can flatout recruit and coach. Now you see the 4 and 5 star players praying to go to ND. WHY! It is all about being a Winner. Whether we like it or not Coach Wiess is a Winner. Next year the Irish will be hard to handle.

 

[THE BAMA IRISHMAN]

Re: How long did Nortre Dame give Willingham and what was the reason for letting him go?

Under Ty, the Irish were 10-3, 5-7, and 6-6.

Ooops. double post.

 

[NOSty]

Re: How long did Nortre Dame give Willingham and what was the reason for letting him go?

Notre Dame was definitely on the way down under Willingham, but only on Saturdays.

I heard an announcer talk about Willingham and the ND administration was really impressed with how he ran the program Monday through Friday, he just got an F on Saturdays. ND was losing to teams they shouldn't have and they were getting pounded in many games. It was the right move for ND at the time. It's about the W's as ND wasn't under sanctions or anything.

 

[JTM]

Re: How long did Nortre Dame give Willingham and what was the reason for letting him go?

It did not help that Navy had the Irish on the ropes two straight years. I can see a close game every now and then but not in back to back years to teams like Navy. Coach Willingham was taking the program to a lower depth. Bob Davie had good players but wasn't a very good Coach. Ty was able to go 10 - 3 with that talent. As those players graduated so did the talent level. Coach Willingham can coach but he isn't the best at recruiting. Charlie Wiess can flatout recruit and coach. Now you see the 4 and 5 star players praying to go to ND. WHY! It is all about being a Winner. Whether we like it or not Coach Wiess is a Winner. Next year the Irish will be hard to handle.

Great post. It's the aura of the whole program that displays that winning perception... and, results! And, it starts with CCW. It's just something that is noticable when it exist, and when it doesn't as well.

 

[Isaiah 63:1]

One reason I'm a Weis fan...

...is that he seems to know when to buck the odds and take a calculated risk. CMS could learn from him in this area.

 

[GrayTide]

Re: One reason I'm a Weis fan...

...is that he seems to know when to buck the odds and take a calculated risk. CMS could learn from him in this area.

Weiss was an NFL OC with no head coaching experience and a non football player Notre Dame graduate.

 

[CapitalTider]

Re: How long did Nortre Dame give Willingham and what was the reason for letting him go?

A fact (at least everyone in the media assumed it as a fact) that other posters are leaving out is the fact that Willingham was let go to make room for Urban Meyer. It was a known fact that Urban was very interested in the Notre Dame job. After his run at Utah everyone knew he would be leaving. In normal circumstances, Notre Dame would have let Willingham complete his contract before making a change. But the Meyer situation forced their hand; in their desire to land Meyer they canned Willingham early. Of course then Florida came along with a better offer and left ND swaying in the wind. Of course ND got very lucky; Weiss has turned out quite nicely for them.

"Weiss was an NFL OC with no head coaching experience and a non football player Notre Dame graduate."

Funny he didn't seem to require four years worth of on the job training either.

 

[domeronaroll]

worst 10 game stretch in ND history: Willingham 2002-2003

Nov 30 2002
loss - ND 13 - hated rival USC 44 (hello Heisman for Carson Palmer)

Jan 1 2003
loss - ND 6 - North Carolina St. 28 (Gator Bowl)

Sep 06 2003
win - ND 29 - Washington St. 26 (overtime, Wassu misses short FG)

Sep 13 2003
loss - ND 0 - hated rival Michigan 38 (worst ND loss to UMich, ever)

Sep 20 2003
loss - ND 16 - Michigan St. 22 (MSU finished 8-5 but lost to LaTech)

Sep 27 2003
loss - ND 10 - Purdue 23 (Purdue finished 9-4 but lost to Bowling Green)

Oct 11 2003
win - ND 20 - Pittsburgh 14 (Pitt also lost to Toledo, finished 8-5)

Oct 18 2003
loss - ND 14 - hated rival USC 45 (utter collapse at home)

Oct 25 2003
loss - ND 25 - Boston College 27 (BC lost to Wake Forest, finished 8-5)

Nov 01 2003
loss - ND 0 - Florida St. 37 (utter collapse, shutout at home)

Point differential over 10 games:
ND 133 - Opponents 304

 

[Bamabelle in ga]

Re: How long did Nortre Dame give Willingham and what was the reason for letting him go?

excuse me. I don't mean to be rude.....BUT! I don't give a flying damm what ND did.....with ty willingham or anyone else.

Mike Shula is our coach. He is our man. He is an Alabama man. GIVE HIM A CHANCE!

I didn't enjoy my afternoon in knoxville anymore than anyone else there...BUT We need stability and we're so, so, so very close to being where we need to be. A play here, a play there and we're undefeated!

I HATE losing. I grew up with CPB going to my first games in the 70s. I'm old school. Let's try to be patient. Try to be supportive. Try.

 

[gladIam4UA]

Re: How long did Nortre Dame give Willingham and what was the reason for letting him go?

I didn't mean to imply Alabama's head coach should be changed. I was just curious about Willingham, knowing he was a bit of a media darling, good recruiter, etc., like Shula, but didn't last long at a school that doesn't have much patience for lack of forward progress, like Alabama (sanctions or not).

I didn't know that about Meyer. When you hear stories like that - the Auburn/Louisville story, the Fran/A&M story, it's just amazing the politics and positioning that goes on behind the scenes in college football coaching.

 

[rgw]

Re: One reason I'm a Weis fan...

Weiss was an NFL OC with no head coaching experience and a non football player Notre Dame graduate.

And he's a better coach than Shula...the bling on his fingers don't lie.

 

[AFTide]

Re: How long did Nortre Dame give Willingham and what was the reason for letting him go?

Whose players do you think are playing for Weiss now? Not Weiss'... ND didn't give Willingham a chance... Weiss is bringing in the players now, I can acknowledge that, time will tell if they all become world beaters... But the players that are winning now and are in the hunt for the Heisman now, they were recruited by Willingham...

Yes, I had heard the story about Meyer... And ND sold their soul... Hopefully Alabama won't do the same...

 

[bamahuey1]

Re: How long did Nortre Dame give Willingham and what was the reason for letting him go?

Whose players do you think are playing for Weiss now? Not Weiss'... ND didn't give Willingham a chance... Weiss is bringing in the players now, I can acknowledge that, time will tell if they all become world beaters... But the players that are winning now and are in the hunt for the Heisman now, they were recruited by Willingham...

Yes, I had heard the story about Meyer... And ND sold their soul... Hopefully Alabama won't do the same...

Soul? What soul? You mean "Touchdown Jesus"? Alabama, ND, USC, Michigan, Auburn, Tennessee, tOSU, etc...it's all big-time college football! Nothing more! fRan won with Dubose's players! Coach Stallings won with Curry's players! Coaches get paid to win! If Miami was winning, Larry Coker wouldn't be losing his job despite the "brawl"! Pretending that winning isn't the bottomline is a bit naive! Yes, graduating players and having class matters, but a coach can do those things, yet if he doesn't win he'll be out of a job! That's true everywhere, to include Alabama!

 

[Tradition4ever]

Re: How long did Nortre Dame give Willingham and what was the reason for letting him go?

Willingham is a good coach, but his style didn't seem to work at ND. He's a Pac-10 guy. He'll get Washington back on track, but he needs to stay on the west coast.

 

[domeronaroll]

...and Willingham is winning this year with his Gilbertson's recruits

...and so it goes.

For what it is worth, I would prefer to have Shula as my coach over Willingham. Both are good role models. However, Shula is a better recruiter, by far. Harder working, more organized.

Willingham graduates more players, but it appears that Shula is working to improve the numbers.

Shula has not, and will not, go 2 and 8 over a 10 game stretch. Ever.

:BigA:

 

[AFTide]

Re: How long did Nortre Dame give Willingham and what was the reason for letting him go?

Soul? What soul? You mean "Touchdown Jesus"? Alabama, ND, USC, Michigan, Auburn, Tennessee, tOSU, etc...it's all big-time college football! Nothing more! fRan won with Dubose's players! Coach Stallings won with Curry's players! Coaches get paid to win! If Miami was winning, Larry Coker wouldn't be losing his job despite the "brawl"! Pretending that winning isn't the bottomline is a bit naive! Yes, graduating players and having class matters, but a coach can do those things, yet if he doesn't win he'll be out of a job! That's true everywhere, to include Alabama!

IMO, I think that every coach should be given a fair shake... Willingham wasn't... Yes, I understand that winning is the bottom line... It is a sad thing though... Because all those guys are doing is playing a game... Yes the coaches coaches are paid to win... But to the people that really matter (the players) coaches are there to be mentors... 90% of those players will never play football in the NFL... What will they be doing? Who knows? All I was saying is that I hope that Alabama doesn't sell out and get rid of a good man too soon like ND 2 years ago...

Roll Tide!

 

[LCN]

Re: worst 10 game stretch in ND history: Willingham 2002-2003

Nov 30 2002
loss - ND 13 - hated rival USC 44 (hello Heisman for Carson Palmer)

Jan 1 2003
loss - ND 6 - North Carolina St. 28 (Gator Bowl)

Sep 06 2003
win - ND 29 - Washington St. 26 (overtime, Wassu misses short FG)

Sep 13 2003
loss - ND 0 - hated rival Michigan 38 (worst ND loss to UMich, ever)

Sep 20 2003
loss - ND 16 - Michigan St. 22 (MSU finished 8-5 but lost to LaTech)

Sep 27 2003
loss - ND 10 - Purdue 23 (Purdue finished 9-4 but lost to Bowling Green)

Oct 11 2003
win - ND 20 - Pittsburgh 14 (Pitt also lost to Toledo, finished 8-5)

Oct 18 2003
loss - ND 14 - hated rival USC 45 (utter collapse at home)

Oct 25 2003
loss - ND 25 - Boston College 27 (BC lost to Wake Forest, finished 8-5)

Nov 01 2003
loss - ND 0 - Florida St. 37 (utter collapse, shutout at home)

Point differential over 10 games:
ND 133 - Opponents 304

How could you leave out the game when Air Force kept the game in doubt for 60 minutes .:conf3: I believe it was CTW's first season .


RTR !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!:BigA:

 

[tidefanbeezer]

As those players graduated so did the talent level. Coach Willingham can coach but he isn't the best at recruiting.

Can't recruit??

Brady Quinn
Jeff Samardzija
Darius Walker
Tom Zbikowski

All the leaders and star players on ND's team this year. All are Willingham's guys.

Can't coach? Maybe.

Can't recruit? Wrong.